Mass Effect: Victory Without Sacrifice
by YomiAzura
Summary: My Personal story of how it should end. It will start where the Illusive Man dies and end with a nice Epilogue, not forgetting how a few couples happen in my mind.
1. Chapter 1

Just as the Illusive Man pulled the trigger, Alexander Shepard turned his eyes away; avoiding the disgrace the Illusive Man was leaving humanity. Anderson gave a sigh as he scooted to get a good look at the Galaxy. The Battle of Earth was going so well, even without the Crucible. The Reapers were falling in pieces and losing numbers. From fighting all over the Galaxy, they had begun to lose large numbers, even with those coming in from the Relays and Earth.

Anderson turned to Commander Shepard, smiling for a moment before his eyes turned completely black. He opened his mouth as a void of screeches and metallic rings were released into Alexander's ears. Shepard grabbed his ears, covering them as his mind felt empty, the hold of the Reapers still present even without the Illusive Man being there to have it happen. He then felt a hard slap as he opened his eyes and removed his hands from his ears. Anderson stood over him, looking down on him and mouthing something Shepard couldn't make out. Get up? It's not over?

"Shepard, get your ass moving! The time to rest is soon but not here!" Anderson heaved up Shepard by his right arm. The Illusion began with the Illusive man controlling Shepard. He never fired upon Anderson. But Shepard's words still reached the Illusive Man, causing him to take his own life to give Shepard a chance to save Humanity and the Galaxy in whole.

"Anderson… I can't breathe…" Shepard spoke with heavy breath, his chest definitely weighing in on him. With a quick response, Anderson activated his omni tool, medi-gel moving over the wounds on Shepard's chest and over the rest of his body to stop the pain and keep Shepard going. Anderson pressed the buttons in, the arms of the Citadel opening as the Crucible broke apart and began to move in to attach itself and be fired.

"We need you for the last go Shepard…" As Anderson spoke a dim light illuminated the dark, the platform beneath them separating from the floor beneath them as the arms of the Citadel spread open wide.

They ascended in light, meeting a small boy of shimmering light. He looked shocked, as if expecting only Shepard to appear. His voice was culmination of many voices coming together in a consensus. "You were meant to come alone. No matter. The decision will simply be easier to make. I am the Catalyst, the one thing that will save your cycle and end the Reapers under your decision."

Shepard straightened up, glaring his eyes straight forward at the boy, as if knowing this was merely an illusion. Anderson looked down at Alexander and took a step forward with him, passed the shimmering light of a boy.

The boy's body began shifting and flowing, breaking apart into five lights; blue, white, red, yellow, and purple coming from the spectrum of lights that had once been the boy. And in the place of the boy now formed five different races. The first was in the form of what looked to be a Keeper, but unmodified and in robes. The second was like a collection of tentacles swirling together with six beady eyes and fangs poking out at the top. The third was a Rachni queen miniaturized, it's beak pointing at Shepard's chest while it's head twisted in curiosity and frustration. The fourth was a Yhag, smoldering in it's rage as it's muscles tensed and relaxed over and over in shimmering light. The final one was a Prothean, growling in rage as it pointed at Alexander Shepard.

"What do you want...?" Shepard let the words flow out as he was awed by the presence of the five entities, wondering who they were.

"You, Commander Shepard!" The voice was like a slap in the face. It was the voice of Harbinger. Shepard instantly felt a sense of despise inside of his gut as he looked upon the five figures.

"You have come to the Five. The consensus of Reapers. We govern over them.." The Rachni Queen was now speaking, taking a step closer to Shepard with it's brilliant white light shining. "We are Order, Chaos, Sovereign, Harbinger, and Destruction. We have decided to become the six and you will join us as The Shepard. Our guide and ruler... No longer bound by your flesh and limitations."

As Shepard gawked in awe at the Five, Harbinger snarled and lifted his fist, angered at Shepard as Sovereign, the gangly mesh of tentacles, shifted continuously in an agitated way as it awaited Shepard's response.

...

Out in space, the SSV Normandy was literally ripping passed Reapers, firing at drones, and assisting wherever it could. After having lifted EDI's body unit and James Vega off the ground, it had rejoined the fight in Orbital Space above Earth. The fight was going well what with the Geth moving in close as fighters along with Reaper encryption data allowing them to malfunction the Reaper's Mass Effect fields along with opening and closing mechanisms to reveal weakpoints. The Quarians then used heavy weapons to fire at the exposed areas on the Reapers, tearing through them. The only problems so far were five very large Reapers that were on the surface of Earth, firing up and tearing through a fleet at a time.

Admiral Hackett sat back in his chair as he got a transmission from Joker. "Joker, the fight is going well. We might not even need the Crucible."

Joker remained silent for a moment before delivering some news. "Admiral Hackett, EDI put in some numbers and we have bad news. The Reapers... They're arriving in bulk now. They're going to hit the Sol Relay in thirty minutes. We estimate a thousand or more. That Crucible may be our last shot at this... Permission to go down in flames sir?"

Admiral Hackett swore under his breath. "No Joker, we need our best damn pilot flying our best damn ship out there. And that's you and the Normandy." He then punched in a few buttons on the console in front of him, standing before it as he connected to the heads of the current remaining fleets. "Listen up people. The Crucible is our last chance. The Reapers are going to hit us in bulk..."

...

As the Admiral gave his speech, the entire combative crew of the Normandy gathered down in the Shuttle Bay, all armed and full of ammunition and holding their weapons. They stood, ready for combat, as Joker moved into the Citadel center, ignoring the warning's that were flashing across his screen.

"First move, locate Shepard. Next move, do whatever the hell Loco says." James Vega gave a smirk as he put on his Optical enhancers and then his brand new N7 helmet. Everyone followed suit and secured their armor and equipment, making sure to keep from making a small mistake that would jeopardize the mission.

The hatch opened slowly, flooded with light from the sun as they moved out and headed straight for one of the arms now opened. They were close to the center of the Citadel, but something kept the ship from entering a mysterious mass effect field. Joker gave a short word to the crew as Liara, James, Tali, Garrus, Ashley, a largely covered up figure, Javik, and EDI's Dr. Eva platform jumped onto the Citadel as it shifted to make a large runway straight to the center.

"I don't know how today is going to go... But Shepard for once needs us instead of us needing him. We owe him more than our lives, even though mine might be easier to give. So... yada yada big speech. Shepard is better at this so go get him back here to give me some pointers or something." Joker smirked as he pulled away. Inside of the Normandy, Joker was giving orders to all of the crew to make sure the ship was ready for what was next.

As several Reapers came into orbit of Earth Joker maneuvered around, firing the Thalix Cannon every moment he got a clear shot. He only got three successful shots in unfortunately and even those weren't taking these guys down.

"Damn it!" Joker hit his controls with his fist as he fired another shot. This one went through the Reaper's mass effect fields allowing a damaging shot as it tore through three of it's five legs and cutting the remaining two in half. This would leave it's interior to damaging attacks later on while also keeping it from grabbing onto any ships nearby.

"Jeff, the estimated results-... Jeff, I don't think we're going to make it this time..." EDI's voice hummed around Joker as he sighed.

"Yeah... but there's no way I'm going down without a fight EDI. And you can make it, you have a link to another access port." Joker began maneuvering the ship again as an Alliance cruiser fired in on the Reaper he had just disabled. It exploded with such concussive force it made the entire Normandy shiver and shake.

"Jeff, should we fail to survive-"

"We won't. We're going to make it EDI." Joker looked up at one of her cameras, staring right into what could be mentioned as a soul. He then moved back to the controls of the Normandy.

"Yes Jeff... Yes we will." She began to work on the encryption files she originally had from her own structure and configuring it with that of the Geth, meshing the two to work at optimal hacking capacity against the Reapers cyber warfare suites.

...

Shepard's fist clenched as he took a step further, looking at all Five of them. "You're just a bunch of power hungry beings. And how could you have these forms? You can't seriously expect me to belie-"

"SILENCE!" Harbinger sent a shockwave through Shepard and Anderson, sending them to their knees as they all shifted once again into a more humanoid shape. Only these humanoids all had four arms, two legs, and were skinnier than even the Quarians. The only bulky one of them was Sovereign whoe now stood in front of them all.

"I was the original leader, Shepard. But you had bested me and my followers. And so you came here as we wanted and allowed. But you must join u-"

"That is not yet decided..." Chaos, Order, and Destruction spoke as one as they were eyed by Sovereign and Harbinger as if they were speaking blasphemy. They then all shifted together to form a line once more of them, all staring at Shepard.

Shepard slowly rose to his feet, clutching his chest where his heart was hammering from. Anderson remained on his knees, huffing as he felt the weight of his age and all the damage crushing upon him. His uniform was now tattered and covered in black patches, ruined from all that he was going through and had been through up to this point.

"So you want me to join you...? Become some sick abomination?" Shepard shook his head as if he couldn't believe it.

"You have two options." They all spoke at once, their minds linked now. Outside all Reapers clutched up and their mass effect fields became condensed and stronger with fluctuations of power through their systems. "You may join us and lead us away forever... Or you may join us and produce a Synthesis of sorts. We will inject nanites into the blood stream of every living creature under your will. We will then go back to Dark space and wait and see if this option is successful. If it is not and they continue to feud, you will decide if we return and wreak vengeance or simply... stay away and watch all organic life perish."

"But that's not organic life..." Shepard spoke softly as it seemed all of the Sentient parts of the Reapers were for once shocked. "Organic life means making your own choices. Same with Synthetic... You aren't alive. You just take orders and follow a cycle over and over. It's all your programmed to do. But life... life will always find a way. We don't give up and we don't surrender even under impossible odds. We may have a small percent of our peoples who want to give up. But every single species has lent a fleet to this cause. Every single one has stepped up and aided us. There's no way I'm just going to let you crush us..."

Just as Shepard finished a single Geth trooper slammed down in front of him, separating him from the Five. The Geth trooper turned to face Shepard and he instantly knew who it was.

"Wel spoken, Shepard Commander. I have come back." Legion turned and punched in several commands into a keyboard that flashed before him in a mere moment. All five shimmering images disappeared as the roar of the Reapers came. Just then, all of the squad arrived. Ashely and James picked up Admiral Anderson, heaving him up as they began to move back.

"Time, problematic. Shepard, have to go." Shepard's eyes widened as he turned to find a half robotic Mordin applying medication to Anderson.

"But... I saw the building..." Shepard began stammering as he was thrown his armor and a Prothean beam Rifle.

"Shepard. Time of essence. Krogan found me, gave me tech to work with. Explain more later." Mordin spoke fats and with seriousness. This awoke Shepard from his stammer.

With that they all began to run from the bridge. Garrus held his sniper rifle, picking off Banshee's as they began to make their way towards them. Tali sent out multiple drones as Legion watched her back, firing at husks as they came. Javik roared as sent dark channels through any and all husks that he could get it to. Ashley and James continued to fire as they watched over Anderson and Mordin, making sure nothing got close enough. Shepard Stood next to Tali as he began to fire. EDI was working at a console connected to the Citadel, of which Shepard was unsure of why she was doing this. He suddenly heard the Five talking throughout all of the Citadel.

"We don't fall. But we will grant you a chance... Give us one reason life should continue as it does. If we find your answer lacking, the assault continues. But... if you can give us a computable answer we'll self destruct the Reapers with the exception of our original Five and retreat back to Dark Space..."

As Shepard was about to speak EDI hacked the entire structure and spoke as she began to wipe them clean of the Citadel. "42." She smiled as they gavea roar that quickly diminished.

"That was a joke." Legion nodded after speaking as the husks now dwindled in number and eventually fell.

"EDI. Tell me what you and Legion can do with the Curcible." Shepard had the rest of the squad, including Anderson now, as he spoke with the two of them.

"We have found multiple node signals that can be reformatted. With what he have in Reaper code, we can have it attack only specific coded structures. This will not harm the upgraded Geth, I, or others with partial reaper technology inside of them. Though they may experience discomfort for days, they will survive. The Reapers will implode however and will likely try to take as many ships as they can. These will be cloe to EMPs so organics won't be harmed to the point of fatality, but ships will lose power and fall into the planet. The Relays and Citadel will survive along with us as they are not completely Reaper tech from apparent restructuring by the Keepers." She then began working with the console as Legion moved to his own console, both working tediously and quickly.

Shepard then connected to Admiral Hackett and Joker. "Alright. We can blow the Reapers but we need to evacuate anyone near them. All ships must escape as the Crucible fires. I repeat, all ship evacuate."

The news spread as Shepard saw the Crucible begin to light up with a purple energy, being enveloped in it before it seperated into sepcific beams hitting each Reaper and then spreading outwards, hitting each Reaper with pin point accuracy. They all shut down and began to implode as all of the Fleets withdrew through the Relay. As they escaped, the beams followed, leaving the Relays intact and then finding each individual Reaper among the stars.

"Shepard... We will come about by the hands of your children... We are the only solutionnnnn..." The Five's voice disappeared from his comms as he shuddered, worried that they might be right. He watched as multiple implosions occured, rocking the Citadel slightly as all of the Reapers fell to pieces.

...


	2. Chapter 2

Several Months Later

On Earth, now after only a quick restoration, stood a tall statue of several Figures in a large circle. Tali, Garrus, Wrex, Legion, Thane, Miranda, Jacob, Ashley, Kaiden, and the rest of the Normandy Ccrew that were most influential stood in the circle. The center was Shepard, standing at full attention with a fire that burned in the eyes of the statue. Above them was a model of the Normandy, scaled to half size with figurines inside of all the other crew members that were essential to every mission. Even Joker giving the bird in the pilot's seat getting a smooch on the cheek, completing the masterpiece.

"Brings back memories already..." An all too familiar voice spoke, Garrus Vakarian. Shepard and almost all of the crew stood there, with the exception of Joker taking a seat.

"Jeff, if you would like to sit on my shoulders, it will be alright." EDI smiled as Joker merely shook his head smiling.

"You know, this whole building us a baby thing is already weird enough. What, are you the daddy and you're gonna shove it right up my ass?"

"Joker. There are kids nearby..." Liara spoke softly as she touched Ferons' hand softly. He smiled and kissed her cheek as Gabby and Ken made out heavily, refusing to let each other go after the dog fight with all those reapers, even now.

"So Shepard, any plans now?" Ashley smirked as she held Vega's hand, being discreet as possible even though they knew they both were too soft for eachother.

"Rannoch. Maybe stick to the Normandy and just hire you all on permanently as I go around and do random jobs for civillians... but I'm not fighting another Galactic threat." They all laughed at that, so hard even Joker had to hold his stomach from it.

Tali finally walked into clear view with a small bubble connected to her suit. It was connected to her breathers and all sorts of things, keeping whatever was inside alive. "Alexander. Thane Shepard and Shallah Shepard would like to see their father..."

"Leave it to the Commander to cross pollinate successfully..." A ghostly voice rang out, making them all stand still before smiling and turning to find the last Prothean, or so they thought. In his arms was a small girl like Prothean, sucking on Javik's thumb. "I found her in the ruins on Ilos... the computer was not correct for he only checked adult chamber pods. There is still this one..."

"Let me guess, grow her up so you can rebuild your empire and have your way with us bent over like you plan with her?" Joker laughed before Edi gave him a flick.

"Jeff, you were not complaining when-" Joker quickly cut her off with a guffaw and a few shh's here and there.

Traynor and Jack walked up, both smiling before pressing their lips together for all to see. "Laugh it up, Shepard. I snagged me an Alliance babe who isn't afraid to play dirty..." Traynor blushed at Jack's words and gave Jack a pinch on the butt, shutting Jack up. Jack flipped her ponytail once and went silent as all the crew gathered around Shepard.

"Everyone. Friends. Family. People who thought we were doomed from the start and those who held out for one more shot to the end. We're gathered here today to recognize a win, but also a heavy loss. Without brave soldiers we all lose... but we won't pay that price. We won't sell out what we are or who we are and play to whatever game some sick thing has in store." Shepard nodded to Legion, remembering the Brainwashing. He stepped up on the siding to the statue, just in front of the large plaque that held millions of names that slowly screened by on the shifting metal. "These names are honored here, not just human, but Turian, Quarian, Asari, a few Prothean donated by Javik, and more. I'm so grateful to my crew, for allowing me to say my name is not on this plaque. But we also have young, new generations. We must, as the Normandy crew, bring every child, grand child, and great grandchild to this very spot and tell them who fought and why they fought. To tell them it wasn't an organic or synthetic that started the war. It was the enslavement of any and all minds, whether they were flesh and blood or steel and wiring. We are who we are and we stood our ground. We did more than that... we secured a future..."

Cheering from all around was heard as Shepard remained still, taking in the silence of his own mind before stepping down and kissing his wife's mask and reaching into the bubble suits of his girl and boy, giving them hugs. "We did it... Let's get back to the Normandy!"

...Many Years Later...

As several differing races of children stood around the Statue of the Normandy crew, a very large group of older people gathered before them. Two adults looking of a mix of Quarian and human took a few steps forward, without suits. An old quarian without a full suit smiled and held a very old Alexander Shepard's hand as he cleared his throat.

"Children. I've given many speeches in my time, but you need only know one thing. Everyone here now has an AI in their mind that will evolve with them and split off to a separate body at your adult hood... This is so you can grow to learn a lesson we had to learn hard. A race of giant ships called Reapers once tried to enslave synthetic and organic alike merely because they thought the two would never get along. We fought for a chance to prove them wrong. I personally gave my word as we fought... remember our faces when we've gone. And know... that no matter who or what life comes in, it is precious to all..."

THE END


End file.
